The Ontario Reign defeated the Coachella Valley Firebirds in overtime Friday night by a final score of 6-5 in front of 7,670 fans at Acrisure Arena. The Reign host the Firebirds Saturday night at Toyota Arena at 6 p.m. PST.
The Reign overcame three, two-goal deficits as Jared Wright scored the overtime winner 39 seconds into the extra frame. Martin Chromiak got the Reign on the board early into the game but the Firebirds responded with three unanswered goals taking a 3-1 lead through 20 minutes. Taylor Ward finished the night with a pair of goals and an assist, Lane Pederson scored on the power-play and added an assist, and Francesco Pinelli scored late in the second period as Ontario trailed 5-4 after 40 minutes. A late power-play goal in the third from Ward would eventually force overtime.
Ontario trailed 3-1 after the first period of play as the Firebirds held the lead in shots 11-8. Martin Chromiak (1st) started the scoring 5:10 into the game from Angus Booth and Kirill Kirsanov making it 1-0 Reign. Right in front of the scorers table Booth dumped the puck in where it rifled off the back glass and popped right out to Chromiak in the right circle where he banged it home with Kokko out of position. Just 22 seconds later J.R. Avon tied the game sliding the puck home at the top of the crease on a feed in the left circle from Oscar Fisker Mølgaard. Then at 11:29 Eduard Sale made it a 2-1 Firebirds advantage finding a rebound at the left side of the crease after a shot from the right circle courtesy of Ty Nelson. With 2:26 left in the period John Hayden doubled the lead on the power-play squeezing a shot past Portillo from the left face-off dot. Ontario went 0-for-2 on the power-play in the stanza while Coachella Valley was 1-for-1.
The Reign trailed 5-4 through 40 minutes of play outscoring the Firebirds 3-2 in the second period. Just 70 seconds into the frame Taylor Ward (1st) pulled Ontario within one from Cole Guttman and Lane Pederson. Below the left hash marks Pederson won a puck battle and Guttman located the puck along the end boards. From there he fed Ward all alone above the top of the crease where he shoveled the puck over the glove of Kokko. Just 48 seconds later Jani Nyman would put the Firebirds back out in front by a pair from Eduard Sale and Caden Price sending a wrist shot from the high slot over the glove of Portillo. Moments later Ontario went on a five-on-three power-play and Lane Pederson (1st) would find the back of the net from Taylor Ward at 4:58 making it a 4-3 deficit. From behind the right side of the goal line Ward fed Pederson inside the right face-off dot where he snuck a shot by Kokko. Jani Nyman notched his second of the game scoring on a one-timer from the right circle on the power-play giving Coachella Valley a 5-3 advantage with seven minutes left in the frame. With just 35 seconds left in the period Francesco Pinelli (1st) made it 5-4 from Jared Wright and Scott Perunovich. In heavy on the fore-check Wright won a puck battle behind the cage and sent it to the blue paint where Pinelli jammed it home. Koehn Ziemmer dropped the gloves with Lukas Dragicevic at 13:17. Shots were 11-10 Ontario in the period as the Reign went 1-for-3 on the power-play and the Firebirds were 1-for-2.
With 6:26 left in regulation left in regulation Ontario went on their seventh power-play of the night and it would be Taylor Ward (2nd) tying the score at 5-5 with 4:44 left in regulation. From the left side of the goal line Lane Pederson found Ward on the backside of the crease where he directed the puck home past the left leg of Kokko. After 60 minutes the score was 5-5 with shots favoring Coachella Valley 30-27.
Jared Wright (1st) proved to be the overtime winner scoring 39 seconds into the extra session from Kenny Connors and Angus Booth. From behind the Reign blue line Connors fed Wright up the right-wing side. From there he turned on the jets and got inside the right face-off dot and sent a wrist shot far side past Kokko to give Ontario the 6-5 overtime win.
Erik Portillo earned the win making 25 saves on 30 shots while Nikke Kokko suffered the loss making 22 saves on 28 shots. The Reign finished 2-for-7 on the power-play while the Firebirds were 2-for-4.
Postgame thoughts from Andrew Lord and Jared Wright.
Lord
Wright
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